Amy Margolis, a prominent 17 year practicing attorney and founder of the Oregon Cannabis Association, is an uncompromising go-getter. A deeply entrepreneurial attorney who’s made a career focusing on the Pacific Northwest (and beyond) cannabis space, Margolis is whip smart and uncompromisingly concise. She has dedicated her career in helping her clients and the industry as a whole navigate through the brave new world of cannabis legalization— a very new direction, one that is certainly not the divorce, tax, real estate or the multitude of legal careers she could have followed. Amy is a famed cannabis lawyer and she’s darned good at what she does. That’s only a very small part of what Amy has accomplished in her young life in Portland, Oregon, though. She recently announced the launch of both The Commune and The Initiative to ensure that the cannabis industry remains the most progressive and balanced emerging industry yet.

The Commune, a 4,000 square foot event, office and boardroom space, is the first cannabis friendly gathering space of its kind. Located in a historic building in Old Town Portland, Oregon, The Commune hosts business classes and bootcamps, incubator opportunities, speakers, co-working, event rentals, infused dinners and conference room rentals, and will house Ms. Margolis’ new accelerator program The Initiative.

The Initiative is an accelerator program specifically for women cannabis entrepreneurs and executives, open to applicants worldwide on September 1st. Serving as founder and program director, Margolis developed The Initiative to rebalance the gender discrepancy in the cannabis industry. The Initiative is supported by a remarkable board of directors including Dr. Amanda Reiman, Dr. Janice Knox, Rick Turoczy, Emily Paxhia, Mowgli Holmes, AC Braddock, Glynis Olson, Katie Kiernan, Joshua Goldstein, April Pride, Carlos Perea, and foundational sponsors iAnthus Capital, Hotbox Farms and Miller Nash. The team endeavors to provide leadership, guidance and broad networking to ensure the success of every selected applicant.

From the sparsely modern, yet rooted in its intensely industrial past, The Commune’s cannabis friendly work space, only a couple blocks from the Willamette River, is the headquarters of The Initiative, the world’s first women’s cannabis business accelerator. The loft space could just as easily be located in Brooklyn, NY. Amy is firmly in control of The Commune and The Initiative’s future. She acts as the legally versed ringmaster, helping like-minded women with her quick brainpower and deeply rooted, cannabis industry connections. Amy has set out to achieve the goals of this unique group of women in a gracious, non-siloed manner. Her way is in inclusiveness, not exclusiveness. It pays to have vision for the future. Speaking of the future, if you’re a female entrepreneur in the cannabis industry, you may want to attend Amy’s “Hustle Hard: For Women Who Mean Business” retreat in October.

I sat with Amy during my recent trip to the Pacific Northwest and asked her some questions, learning that there are many reasons why she is the very best at her craft. Her crisp intensity makes for a most attentive listening. Amy gets her point across and makes sure you understand where she is going in the context of sharing her knowledge. I’m honored to have asked the following questions.

Forbes: Where are you from? What was it like growing up where you did? Where did you go to summer camp? When did you first try cannabis?

AM: This is a great question because I tried cannabis for the first time at summer camp, which will remain nameless. I grew up in Seattle, which was a very different place in the ‘80s and ‘90s than it is now. It was much more blue collar, more industrial and less shiny and metropolis-like. It was a great place to grow up and a good time to be there. Kids had so much more freedom back then, and Seattle had so much exciting and new stuff going on—from music to art to the outdoors and coffee shops where you could go and pretend to be an adult—that it really felt like practicing to be a grown up.

Forbes: Tell me about yourself. What do you do? Please tell me about The Commune & The Initiative. What are your goals?

AM: I am a middle-aged female attorney who transitioned from doing criminal defense work, mostly serious and violent crimes along with drug defense and other work, to helping cannabis clients. I am also a parent and wife and find this industry both so compelling and super fraught at the same time. I started The Initiative because I reached a breaking point, internally, with where I saw women positioned in this space. Even though we love to tell each other that somehow cannabis is different than tech or corporate America, it is not. In fact, we are rapidly becoming corporate America. I simply felt like something needed to be done and that the biggest problem was lack of access to funding for women, a feeling of intimidation and impossibility around the fundraising process as well as simply lacking the vocabulary and skill set to feel equipped sitting in a room full of male or female funders. So, The Initiative seeks to fill those gaps by being both a business accelerator and supporting programming activation. We will also bridge the gap between female founder and capital. The Commune is the place where the Initiative lives, but it’s also more than that. The Commune is a cannabis gathering space, co-working space, meeting space and where our classes will be held. It really is meant to recapture the feeling of collaboration and cooperation the industry had before everyone felt like they were nothing but competitors.

Women learning about The Initiative at The Commune.Photo credit: Sam Gehrke

Forbes: Do you cook? Who taught you? Mother? Father? Television cooking shows? Which ones?

AM: I like to cook, but I don’t really do it as often as I would like. No one really taught me how. I grew up kosher and my mother used to send me to school with cold hamburgers with ketchup and white bread for lunch because they spent so much time working. They both worked incredibly long days and, I think, for them food was a thing that needed to happen before they collapsed for the night and before the work day started again.

Forbes: Is there anything that you eat and or drink that brings a tear to your eye when you consume it? Why? Do you have a favorite Matzo Ball recipe?

AM: Because my parents were not really cooks, we ate some really weird foods, like throwing-together-whatever-was-in-the-fridge weird. There were a few things my mom made, like chicken and rice, and my dad used to make blintzes on very special occasions—that make me feel very nostalgic. My grandmothers were excellent cooks, but they lived too far away for me to enjoy their cooking. I don’t have a favorite matzo ball recipe, but we are definitely a fluffy and airy family.

Forbes: Is there anyplace in the world that you would love to be right now and why?

AM: I would like to be somewhere quiet where my phone doesn’t work. I think that everyone in this space, including myself, and especially those who have been pushing so hard, could always use some digital detoxing. If I was picking, that quiet place would be somewhere tropical and warm with empty beaches and a good book. A girl can dream!